MSD

MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme)

“The system has been a hugely positive influence on our drive to “zero” incidents. Everything is recorded and tracked on one system and everything is reported on from one system.”

EHS Manager – MSD (Brinny)

Background

MSD (formerly Schering-Plough) is located in Brinny in County Cork, Ireland and employs over 550 people. The site is a centre of excellence for the manufacture and quality assurance of its biotechnology based pharmaceutical products. The state of the art facility includes large scale Fermentation, Purification, Sterile Manufacturing and Quality Control operations. The main product for worldwide distribution is INTRON A, the company’s brand of Interferon. They also produce other biotechnology products for commercial use and development/clinical trials.

Before installing SCANNELL MSD Brinny were maintaining a register of legislation and a compliance manual, both of which had to be updated manually. Furthermore, such updating, as well as the management of Risk assessments, incidents and audits was seen as the remit of EHS and so little ownership was taken for such issues throughout the business.

When questioned about why SCANNELL was favoured over other tools on the market MSD’s EHS Manager quoted “better integration” and “better functionality” as two of the core advantages of the tool.

The Solution

In 2003 MSD Brinny commenced rollout of the SCANNELL solution. Phase one focused on the Legal and Risk modules. Regular updates of pertinent health & safety and environmental legislation are regularly fed to the organisation from the team at Scannell Solutions. This systemised the maintenance of legislation registers and compliance manuals and allowed the team to focus on other objectives.

ISO 14001 and 18001 certification was achieved and in subsequent years the team implemented the SCANNELL incident and risk modules. Due to the integrative nature of the software, managers could now check legislative requirements before raising any Risk Assessments and demonstrate continuous improvement and compliance with the legislation.

MSD Brinny then implemented the final audit and data modules and the system is now being used across the site with excess of 100 users logging on. Having demonstrated it’s value in Brinny, certain modules were rolled out to other sites throughout the Republic of Ireland.

Central to the success of the implementation has been the ability to incorporate company specific templates for managing Health & Safety, and Risk.

Ergonomics, Chemicals and Energy.

The Data Module of SCANNELL allows reports to be displayed with current information. MSD Brinny use this facility for generating the reports relating to the operation of their Waste Water treatment plant, as well as monthly emission reports required by the Environmental Protection Agency under the requirements of their IPPCL (IED).

The annual environmental report is generated from SCANNELL.

Advantages:

A systematic method is now in place for managing Risk assessments, Tasks, Incidents, CAPA’s, and Audits across the site, underpinned by a strong legislative module.

The system provides visibility of EHS activity across all departments. Internal reports produce information on closed CAPA’s, late CAPA’s, Audits completed within target, Risk assessments completed within target, incidents closed out within target etc.

The business has now taken ownership for managing EHS – to quote the EHS Manager “It is not unusual to walk into a line manager’s office and see him working on a corrective action or risk assessment in SCANNELL.”

By adding in Corporate Standards into the Legal Compliance Module, the sites now ensure that any corporate audits will be completed smoothly.

Business unit directors and managers are using the tool to conduct monthly and quarterly audits (previously carried out by EHS).

The system has proven beneficial from an audit perspective. SCANNELL shows methodology and demonstrates compliance and continuous improvement,

As MSD Brinny discovered, the solution is supported by very strong customer support. To quote the IT Manager “Scannell Solutions aren’t reactive, they are proactive. Issues are identified and resolved before we are even aware of them.”

Reports can easily be produced from the system as required.

“In previous times we were measuring accidents and lost days. Now we are measuring preventative measures.”

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